


Make It Your Own

by PrisonerOfDreams



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, Time Skips, Yachi written with the intention of being demiromantic, i dont know what to say here, its just yachi, no beta we die like daichi in that supposed car crash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:20:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29517312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrisonerOfDreams/pseuds/PrisonerOfDreams
Summary: "They think we're dating just because we hang out. Because we're studying together. Doesn't that bother you?""Oh," Hinata blinked owlishly, looking surprised. As if the idea never crossed his mind. "I mean, why would it? It's not true, so I wouldn't think it'd matter what they believe." He paused, like the thought had struck him suddenly. "Why? Does it bother you?""Yes." Said Hitoka, close to tears, "Yes, it does."
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Yachi Hitoka, Shimizu Kiyoko & Yachi Hitoka
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Make It Your Own

**Author's Note:**

> Yachi ❤

Hitoka noticed the trend early on. When her father left, her mother fell into a bout of misery that seemed to stretch for days on days, and her mother's coworker would visit. Her coworker was a man wearing a brown suit. A suit her mother liked to refer to as 'atrocious,' and the man would laugh before explaining to eight-year-old Hitoka what the word meant. It had taken her weeks to keep from running to hide under her bed and even longer to speak with him, but he was patient and kind and never tried to throw her into the large oven they never used and eat her for dinner.

The man was older, or maybe younger than her mother. Hitoka didn't know; she was always too nervous to ask. He had short brown hair and thick glasses and helped with washing their dishes and folding their laundry. He helped with paperwork that her mother left on the dining room table for days, even though she usually kept it neatly organized in her office.

The man would tell her stories, with shining eyes and a comforting laugh, while her mother was busy with phone calls and emails and work, work, work in the other room. He would bring her a briefcase filled with colored pencils of every type and paper that, even then, she could tell it was more than just the average copy-paper she'd used before. There were even dozens of paints and paintbrushes in every size and color and shape Hitoka could dream of, and although she was too young to realize, were far too expensive to let an excitable, clumsy kid like her grab hold of. Soon, with only a few of those visits, the handle of their refrigerator was barely accessible through all the artwork. 

If Hitoka were to pick her favorite part of when the man would visit, it wouldn't be the times he came with his briefcase full of colours or the times they would watch silly cartoons together after homework. It would be how her mother laughed like she did when it wasn't about work, or phone calls, or whatever else kept her from smiling these days. It would be when her mother was in a good enough mood to read her bedtime stories, though she still refuse the ones that were based on fantasy and impossible adventures.

Hitoka never saw her mother's friend as a replacement for her father, but the rumors started anyways, regardless of how Hitoka or her mother felt, or even the man in the atrocious brown suit. Whispers in the hallways and jeering comments behind cupped hands.

_"Always with that man-" ___

_"Not even a few months-"_

____

_"What of her daughter. Replacing him so soon-"_

____

There must have been more to it than what Hitoka heard. Because one afternoon and one hushed conversation over the phone with a woman full of pride, and her best friend full of understanding, was all it took for Hitoka to never see the man in their home again. 

____

"I will not have my reputation be tarnished over something as ridiculous as these rumors." Her mother had said over the phone.

Hitoka learned how to load the dishwasher and fold the laundry into neat piles by herself.

____

\----

____

Hitoka noticed the trend early on: people would assume. No matter who you were or how hard you tried to keep them from it, people would assume.

____

\----

____

To her growing dismay, the trend continued throughout middle school. Girls teasing one another over supposed boyfriends, and the boys shoving each other whenever a girl would pass by. Who liked who, what meant what, the idea was exhausting, and even more exhausting, was when she was forced to participate.

____

"Yachi!" One of the girls exclaimed one day, Hitoka remembered her name, Chiharu, a pretty girl with long, rich hair held back in a braid and more-than-decent marks in all her classes. Hitoka wondered how many times adults had asked her if she had a boyfriend yet, even though she was only thirteen like the rest of them. Probably more than she had herself, Hitoka reasoned.

____

"Do you like anybody?" Chiharu asked in a tone that suggested she already knew the answer. The girls that had gathered around waited impatiently. Like a flock of circling vultures, she thought, waiting for their prey to tire themselves out before going in for a quick and easy kill.

____

"O-oh! Uhm, well, I've never really thought about it!" Yes, yes that was reasonable answer, she mentally patted herself on the back. Of course, She was too focused on other things, like homework and art, and surviving long enough to make it to high school, too busy to entertain silly ideas like boys and love.

____

"Someone must have caught your eye!" One of the other girls insisted, blonde and the tallest girl in the class. Hitoka wondered how she must look to her from that far up. Small and weak, maybe? Easy to crush?

____

_'Pick a boy.'_ She thought to herself. _'Just say a name, and they'll all leave you alone. Say a name, say a name, and you can leave-'_

____

"Look, she's nervous!" Said the blonde girl, with far too much giddiness than Hitoka would have preferred. "There has to be someone, she's just embarrassed to say."

____

"I bet it's Hara from class 2A." Chiharu again, "I saw them eating together a few times." The statement stirred up the group's curiosity again, leaving Yachi bombarded by another flow of questions. She couldn't bring herself to do more than cower and stammer weak denials that fell on deaf ears. Eventually, they shifted their attention to another girl, eager to tell about her own attractions. Hitoka slipped silently out of the crowd and down the hall.

____

It was the obvious answer to her classmates; after all, Hara was a boy like her, small, shy, and terrified of everything. In their second year, Hara became absolutely convinced there was a tiger-trap set up on school property, and at any step, he could fall in and be devoured in an instant. The boy had caused such a ruckus that a teacher had to come out and test the ground before he would walk across, just to calm him down. After that, Hitoka herself had refused to walk on the grass for months overcome by that same impossible fear. The two of them had bonded enough over the experience that they would sometimes lend study notes, and on rare occasions, eat lunch together. He was one of the only boys she found herself being able to talk to.

____

Hitoka didn't think she would eat lunch with him anymore.

____

At some point during the year, Hitoka decided she would always be Yachi Hitoka, Villager B, comfortable as the background character that missed out on all the romance and adventure. There was nothing to be missed after all, if she was safe up in her apartment, hidden away from the world. 

____

\----

____

In her first year of high school, Hitoka's internal proclamation was sent up in flames almost immediately. Shimizu Kiyoko entered stage-right of her life, waving a flyer in hand and a soft smile alight on her face, and Yachi Hitoka was not going to make it out of highschool alive.

____

After Kiyoko came Hinata, who was followed closely by Kageyama, who in turn brought the entirety of the Karasuno Boys Volleyball Club and the chaos that came wrapped up with it in a nice package sealed with an unassuming bow. It took awhile for Hitoka to adjust.

____

Hinata had wormed his way onstage after Shimizu. With his ridiculous amounts of energy and determination, Hitoka was able to be brave enough for herself. Brave enough to stand up to her mother and tell her that she wouldn't just be Villager B anymore. She would be the manager of the volleyball club. She would use her art to raise funds, she would help tutor Hinata and Kageyama when Tsukishima refused, and Hitoka would help them arrive in Tokyo.

____

And maybe, just maybe, she thought to herself late at night in bed, she could learn to fly just a bit like Hinata, in her own way.

____

Yachi Hitoka, Manager of the Karasuno Boys Volleyball Club. She liked the sound of that.

____

\----

____

"They think we're...you know..." Hitoka said, days after her decision to become the new manager became official, although Kiyoko was still graciously showing her the ropes.

____

"They think we're what?" Hinata asked, in that dumbfounded voice he used when she was explaining a problem he wasn't following, or counting how many quarters he still needed for the vending machine outside the school. 

____

"They think we're together!" Hitoka burst out, embarrassed at the way her voice carried across the courtyard, so she dropped down to a whisper, "They think we're dating just because we hang out. Because we're studying together. Doesn't that bother you?"

____

"Oh," Hinata blinked owlishly, looking surprised. As if the idea never crossed his mind. "I mean, why would it? It's not true, so I wouldn't think it'd matter what they believe." He paused, like the thought had struck him suddenly. "Why? Does it bother you?"

____

"Yes." Said Hitoka, close to tears, "Yes, it does."

____

\----

____

It was maybe the first time she had admitted it to herself properly, peeling back the layers of expectations and doubt that the admission was trapped beneath. The first time since she was eight years old, and realized that she didn't want what happened to her mother and the man in the atrocious brown suit. She didn't want to drift from her best friend in the world because people would whisper behind cupped hands. But she was tired of it. She was tired of how little it took for people to begin talking. But she was even more tired of letting the rumors decide who she would be friends with and who she would like. If she ever were to like anyone at all.

____

\----

____

It was a conversation during a bath months later that helped Hitoka to make up her final resolve. A conversation after many others occurred, explaining hidden scars and hurdles both physically and metaphorically—a conversation between two girls, who each had something to say.

____

"Are you ever tired," She began, feeling awkward as Kiyoko waited patiently for her to finish. "Of people assuming they know more than is really there?"

____

And thankfully, Kiyoko understood. "Yes." She laughed, "Of course, yes." She turned her face up to the ceiling, a faint smile on her lips, and suddenly Hitoka no longer felt silly about the question at all.

____

"Let's promise something to each other," Kiyoko said.

____

"What is it?"

____

"Let's promise that there will never be any assumptions between us."

____

Maybe that was a bit too serious a discussion for a hot bath after a long and mentally exhausting day, but Hitoka agreed wholeheartedly. Ready to see this new promise through, and prepared to see a new day to its end.

____


End file.
